The fact checking and reality checks of his economic plan, based on his ad last night are all the same, 'Where is he getting the money'.....Each reality check says he has programs, but is not clear at all on how to fund them.
Just one of them, from CBSNews.com
Without question, the Barack Obama infomercial served as a very slick and powerful recitation of the biggest promises he's made as a presidential candidate. But the very bigness of his ideas is the problem: he seems blind to the concept his numbers don't add up.
Let's start with his highly suspect, and widely discredited, claim that he can find federal "spending cuts beyond the costs" of his promises. Very few independent economists believe he has identified the savings needed to offset his remarkable list of tax credits, tax cuts and spending pledges.
Fact: Even if you believe Obama intends to fix health care, most independent analysts say the cost is massive - $1.2 trillion over ten years, according to the highly respected Lewin Group. When the new Congress wakes up next year to a $1 trillion deficit, and answers the overwhelming new demands for another stimulus package, will the leadership really bite on a health care reform package that digs the deficit hole so much deeper?
And that's just the beginning of what Obama would spend.
Fact: The tax cuts he promises, which are mostly refundable tax credits (code for cash back), will cost $60 billion just in year one, according the National Taxpayers Union, though the Obama campaign's own estimates in July put that figure at $130 billion.
Fact: His new promise to give businesses a $3,000 tax credit for each new job created will cost $40 billion. But economists say this credit is far more likely to benefit companies already planning to expand and will likely not be enough to help companies create new jobs or forestall layoffs.
Fact: Obama's claim he will lower health care premiums by $2,500 is: 1.) guesswork, which is 2.) based on health care savings that might, in a perfect world, happen over 10 years - a fact Obama neatly glosses over.
Fact: Obama, when referring to savings he can make by leaving Iraq ($90 billion, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates), has spent these savings several times over, across several different promises depending on the crowd he's addressing.
Most of the time he spends the Iraq savings in the context of the roads he wants to build; sometimes it's for the teachers he wants to hire. Tonight, he riffed rhetorically on the savings, asking how many scholarships could be funded, or how many schools could be built. In the end though, presuming he really saves $90 billion, he can only spend it once.
Remember he also mentioned rebuilding the military ($7 billion/yr); his education initiative ($18 billion/yr); and his energy initiative ($15 billion/yr). He did not mention the $188 billion that he would spend on the brand new stimulus package he has proposed.
If he closes every loophole as promised, saves every dime from Iraq, raises taxes on the rich and trims the federal budget as he's promised to do "line by line," he still doesn't pay for his list. If he's elected, the first fact hitting his desk will be the figure projecting how much less of a budget he has to work with - thanks to the recession. He gave us a very compelling vision with his ad buy tonight. What he did not give us was any hint of the cold reality he's facing or a sense of how he might prioritize his promises if voters trust him with the White House.
Ah, reality! I'm not quite sure how people think a man who spends like he does in his campaign is suddenly going to know how to trim expenses if he's elected. Yup, it just does not all add up.
Just to give you a "heads up" on electronic Medical Records. Many Dr's offices and Hospitals have already switched to "electronic Medical Records" I found that out the last time I took my grandson, and paid cash for his Dr. visit. His Mother, my son's EX gf, has him on ACCESS(Medicade) he should be on SCHIPs with my son's income, since my son had primary physical custody. She has been stalling on taking him off of Medicade, and my son can't gert him on SCHIPs until she does.
As far as mandating Health ins for children? In Pa there is no excuse not to have your child on either ACCESS(medicade) if you make 14,500 a year(single parent) or less. OR SCHIPs which goes according to INCOME, so you have to be working to be eligible!
I thought the same thing when I saw John McCain admit that he does not think Barack Obama is a socialist. I also noticed that no Republican commented on that thread. Interesting.
I agree that Barack Obama, should he win, will have to go over his plan with a fine tooth comb and come up with how to fund it. I trust him to do that, with the help of economic advisers. I also understand that any plan put forth by any candidate is simply a proposal and is not set in stone. However, as I already said, I trust Barack Obama far more than I could ever trust John McCain so I am prepared to give him the power to make these plans actually happen.
The fact checking and reality checks of his economic plan, based on his ad last night are all the same, 'Where is he getting the money'.....Each reality check says he has programs, but is not clear at all on how to fund them.
Just one of them, from CBSNews.com
Without question, the Barack Obama infomercial served as a very slick and powerful recitation of the biggest promises he's made as a presidential candidate. But the very bigness of his ideas is the problem: he seems blind to the concept his numbers don't add up.
Let's start with his highly suspect, and widely discredited, claim that he can find federal "spending cuts beyond the costs" of his promises. Very few independent economists believe he has identified the savings needed to offset his remarkable list of tax credits, tax cuts and spending pledges.
Fact: Even if you believe Obama intends to fix health care, most independent analysts say the cost is massive - $1.2 trillion over ten years, according to the highly respected Lewin Group. When the new Congress wakes up next year to a $1 trillion deficit, and answers the overwhelming new demands for another stimulus package, will the leadership really bite on a health care reform package that digs the deficit hole so much deeper?
And that's just the beginning of what Obama would spend.
Fact: The tax cuts he promises, which are mostly refundable tax credits (code for cash back), will cost $60 billion just in year one, according the National Taxpayers Union, though the Obama campaign's own estimates in July put that figure at $130 billion.
Fact: His new promise to give businesses a $3,000 tax credit for each new job created will cost $40 billion. But economists say this credit is far more likely to benefit companies already planning to expand and will likely not be enough to help companies create new jobs or forestall layoffs.
Fact: Obama's claim he will lower health care premiums by $2,500 is: 1.) guesswork, which is 2.) based on health care savings that might, in a perfect world, happen over 10 years - a fact Obama neatly glosses over.
Fact: Obama, when referring to savings he can make by leaving Iraq ($90 billion, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates), has spent these savings several times over, across several different promises depending on the crowd he's addressing.
Most of the time he spends the Iraq savings in the context of the roads he wants to build; sometimes it's for the teachers he wants to hire. Tonight, he riffed rhetorically on the savings, asking how many scholarships could be funded, or how many schools could be built. In the end though, presuming he really saves $90 billion, he can only spend it once.
Remember he also mentioned rebuilding the military ($7 billion/yr); his education initiative ($18 billion/yr); and his energy initiative ($15 billion/yr). He did not mention the $188 billion that he would spend on the brand new stimulus package he has proposed.
If he closes every loophole as promised, saves every dime from Iraq, raises taxes on the rich and trims the federal budget as he's promised to do "line by line," he still doesn't pay for his list. If he's elected, the first fact hitting his desk will be the figure projecting how much less of a budget he has to work with - thanks to the recession. He gave us a very compelling vision with his ad buy tonight. What he did not give us was any hint of the cold reality he's facing or a sense of how he might prioritize his promises if voters trust him with the White House.
Just to give you a "heads up" on electronic Medical Records. Many Dr's offices and Hospitals have already switched to "electronic Medical Records" I found that out the last time I took my grandson, and paid cash for his Dr. visit. His Mother, my son's EX gf, has him on ACCESS(Medicade) he should be on SCHIPs with my son's income, since my son had primary physical custody. She has been stalling on taking him off of Medicade, and my son can't gert him on SCHIPs until she does.
As far as mandating Health ins for children? In Pa there is no excuse not to have your child on either ACCESS(medicade) if you make 14,500 a year(single parent) or less. OR SCHIPs which goes according to INCOME, so you have to be working to be eligible!
Ah, reality!
I thought the same thing when I saw John McCain admit that he does not think Barack Obama is a socialist. I also noticed that no Republican commented on that thread. Interesting.
I agree that Barack Obama, should he win, will have to go over his plan with a fine tooth comb and come up with how to fund it. I trust him to do that, with the help of economic advisers. I also understand that any plan put forth by any candidate is simply a proposal and is not set in stone. However, as I already said, I trust Barack Obama far more than I could ever trust John McCain so I am prepared to give him the power to make these plans actually happen.
What will the media let slide when it comes to Obama?